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He's been gone for 5 days now, and i miss him terribly.. = ( For some strange reason, i keep dreaming about him these few days. Never happened in the past when he travels. Stupid haze has subsided a bit today, but i still didn't want to bring Bria outdoors, in case she falls sick. So we stayed indoors today, and only went out to my grandma's place in the evening after my driving lesson.

I had a talkative instructor today.. But he's quite funny lah, kept making me laugh. Good and bad, bad cause i wanted to concentrate on my driving. Good cause he help to make me feel more relaxed. Went on 4 test routes today, and had at least 5 "immediate failures". Sigh.. i really must pass my driving the first time. Don't want to waste money retaking. I can do it!! Tomorrow another lesson, at 430pm. I really hope K's 3pm flight will land earlier, otherwise i will be late for my driving lesson. And i really want to go airport to pick him..

This weekend is kinda boring. K not around, plus the haze, so never go out at all. But i guess i got my wanted rest. I have been complaining to K that every weekend is so packed with activities that we never seem to get enough rest before the work week starts again.

Bria is sound asleep on my bed now. And suddenly, i got nothing to do, so got time to blog.. She really fills up my life, this little baby!

K and I brought Bria to Orchard road yesterday. K had to go to Tangs to do some inventory set up for his Moleskines, so I had about an hour to hang with Bria around that area.

I decided to bring her to Borders, and never regretted my choice. There are SOOO MANY interesting children's books there! And the bonus point is there are plenty of seats at Borders for browsing. So I picked up a few baby books, sat down at the children's corner, and read them to Bria. We could have sat there for hours given the hige variety of books there to keep Bria interested. What I like most is that the books are all brand new, unlike those at the libraries. I told K we should bring Bria to Borders more often from now on. = )

For dinner, we went to California Pizza Kitchen for the 1-for-1 birthday treat. I fed Bria her porridge before starting on our pizza and pasta. And Bria just sat there throughout my dinner, babbling and smiling to herself. I didn't even give her any toys to play. Such a good girl! = )

My baby is a big girl now. It's really amazing how time flies, it seemed like yesterday when she was still a tiny baby that I could cradle in my arms. sometimes in one arm. Now it's not so easy to cradle her, much less in one arm! She keep wriggling around, struggling to get out.

At 10 months, Bria has 2 little teeth, can crawl, can pull to stand, and say 3 words clearly and that makes sense: Da Da, Cat and Mama! Mama being the most recent yesterday. I was quite upset when she said "Da Da" first.. and then "Cat".

I am at a stage whereby I am finding it harder and harder to leave Bria at home every day. Instead of her experiencing separation anxiety, I think I am the one suffering from this. I just don't want to leave her and go to work! In fact, I am thinking of quitting my job and find something that can allow me to spend more time with her. Like teaching tuition. K says if i can earn the same salary teaching tuition, he is fine with it.

Just sent out more resumes yesterday and today. Actually, I would really like to be a corporate secretary, or admin assistant of some kind. Miss my secretarial days at UOB.. = ) I think i will do well in this kind of jobs cause I am a very organized person. Hopefully I can find something soon!

K is leaving for Shanghai tomorrow morning, and coming back on Sunday afternoon. Which means I am going to spend the weekend without him = (

Plus, tomorrow I have this stupid farewell dinner to go to after work. Which means i won't get to see Bria. By the time i reach home, she would be sleeping already. Actually, I have one more dinner tonight, but i rejected the invite. I am not going to miss putting Bria to sleep 2 nights in a row! Tomorrow's dinner bo pian have to go, cause it's a farewell dinner for a colleague in my team. I have been rejecting all these dinner invites, so thought this one i better go since she is from my team. Although I really really don't feel like it! Sigh.. I don't want to work!!

Our last day in Osaka! K and I checked out at 1030 this morning, and headed straight to the shops for some last minute purchases. First up, we had breakfast at this fast food burger chain called "Freshness Burger". Shouldn't they call themselves "Fresh Burger" instead? = ) Anyway, I had fish burger while K had teriyaki chicken burger. Both were horrible and don't taste fresh at all.

After breakfast, I went straight to the "Loft" - a 7 storey home and living mall. Bought quite a lot of stuff there. Plenty of Disney pop up greeting cards, a set of mickey mouse ear phones, and a mickey mouse cup cover, among others. Love them all!

We headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags around 12 noon, took a cab to the train station to change to the airport bus. On the way to the airport, we saw this sexy white Lambo and I just had to take a picture.

This was the last picture I took of Osaka before we checked in, ate some lousy snacks at the lounge and boarded the plane for another 11 hours flight....

Today is Osaka castle day! K and I had another bowl of ramen for lunch. When we went into the shop, there were only us and another couple. But when we left, the whole restaurant was full house. I didn't think the ramen was nice leh, average only. But I love their tortoise shaped sauce containers! So cute.

We started our journey to the castle after lunch, and was greeted at the entrance to the castle park with rows and rows of pretty flowers. = )

And a bunch of youngsters rolling around on a pair of wheels. The interesting thing was, the wheels are separate, so it's kinda like a skateboard but without the whole piece of board in between. Quite cool.

There's also this cartoon looking tram that brings people around the park without all the walking. K and I decided to save the money and walk instead.

The weather that day was so hot that i started to develop rashes on my back. Perspiration and wool sweaters doesn't work well for my delicate skin = ( Initially, i wanted to wear sleeveless, but was worried it might rain again like yesterday and the weather will turn cold at night. So wore my wool sweater with hood.
Totally regretted my decision!

So i walked and scratched the whole way until we finally reached the castle. There was some dance performance in front of the castle, so we stood there and watched for a while before heading right up to the magnificent castle. I was half contemplating to buy the ticket to go into the castle, but decided against it for 2 reasons.. One, my back was itching like mad. And two, K told me the castle was not the original one, and had been torn down and rebuilt 3 times already. So i thought, forget it! But it does look pretty from the outside though.

We headed back to the hotel after Osaka castle, so I could change out of my itchy sweater and take a shower. My itch went away the minute i got into the air conditioned train station. We had omelette rice and ice cream for lunch in the train station near our hotel, i bathed and changed, and then we headed out again for some street side shopping. Bought a whole lot of stuff at the 100 yen shop, from Winnee the Pooh zip lock bags and laundry bags to Hello Kitty toothbrushes for the kids..

Along the way, we came across this really happening supermarket with a bright flashing signboard. If only they knew what this means in Chinese! = )

Its been raining the whole freakin day today.. Well, as the weather forecast predicted, its supposed to be thunderstorms today, so i guess showers are already a bonus.

K and I went to Universal City Walk for the most part of the day. Didnt go into Universal Studio though, but we ended up spending the whole day there shopping and eating., and watching people scream on the roller coasters. We went to the Takoyaki museum, which is a total spam, cause its not a museum at all. More like a food court with all the different (but same) Takoyaki stalls.

I also bought more things for myself today. Got this really cute Elmo handphone holder for myself and for S birthday present, and some handphone / keychain accessories. K got himself a terminator and spider man handphone accessory, and got me the elmo and snoopy ones. We also bought a nice pink snoopy winter scarf for Hannah..

Also bought this really cool South Park picture montage sling bag. Am using it now! It has so many little compartments inside and on the sides, and i only paid US$20 for this.

K and I also had sushi, star bucks and this cheese fondue chicken burger set meal at Macdonalds. So interesting right.. But it didn't taste all that great...= )

And the highlight of the day was that we saw two of K's favourites today. He went "Holy Fuck" when he saw them.. haha..

An entire train painted with Spiderman images

Life size figurines of the Star Wars gang

To end off the day, we had oknomiyaki and fried udon for dinner at this place with a super long queue. We thought it must be very nice, but end up the food is so so only..

Happy Birthday To ME!! Cant believe this is my last birthday before i hit the big "3"! I am getting old.. sigh..

K wished me Happy Birthday twice yesterday, once at midnight Japan time, and once at midnight Singapore time.. haha.. Then he hid my present behind my pillow. It was a Baby Blues 2011 calendar. He knows i love Baby Blues comic, and I was also looking for a 2011 calendar for my office desk. So i love it! But the best present he gave me was this trip to Osaka. But then he forgot to get me a cake.. So we went out for a romantic stroll in the rain searching for a slice of cake and candles at the 24 hour convenience stores near our hotel. The stores only sell those standard white candles - 24 in a box. And ugly. So in the end, i got myself a slice of those plastic wrapped chocolate cake, and K used his lighter to light up a flame for me to blow out. By the time we reached the hotel, it was past midnight Japan time, so k said we will celebrate based on Singapore time.. haha..

Today was a whole day of shopping and eating. I bought 2 pairs of shoes and some clothes for myself and baby from Gap. Sometimes i really wished i was living in a place with winter. The winter baby clothes are SOOOO adorable!! I think i will go crazy shopping for winter baby clothes for Bria.

My new shoes..

My new H&M top..

K and I had another bowl of ramen (our 5th since we came) and more Takoyaki. Initially, K had planned for us to go for a river cruise, and then to the magnificent Osaka castle but it started to rain around dinner time. So i guess we will go Osaka castle tomorrow. Eventually, we went to this shopping mall with a whole floor of dining on the 7th floor. All the restaurants had great views of the city, but i couldn't find any to my liking. Wanted to eat sushi, and there was this one sushi restaurant but without any view. In addition, the stupid waiter wanted to sit us at the counter seats even though there were so many empty booth seats. He said booth seats are for 3 people and above. Rather leave it empty than have us. Stupid! Eventually, K and I went to the basement supermarket, got some tonkatsu and more takoyaki, and went up to the 7th floor public viewing gallery to eat our dinner and enjoy the view. Was just about to finish my meal when a security guard came and told us to stop eating. Bummer..

I just went on Gmail to check my emails. Got so many emails from Facebook, so decided to log into Facebook. I got so many birthday wishes on my Facebook! Those wishes really put a smile on my face.

3 more days before flying back to Singapore! Must really eat and shop all I can while I am here. Although a large part of me missed baby. I called home during my ramen lunch today to talk to her, but she refused to utter a sound. C told me she just keep smiling when she hear my voice over the phone. If only i can do a video call with her and see her cute little face. That would make a really nice birthday present. = )

One more day to my birthday!! K and I had such a long long day yesterday that we overslept today. We were supposed to wake up at 8am to go to Nara, but woke up at 10am instead.

We had our first Takoyaki (octopus balls) yesterday night at this little restaurant specializing in Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki (pancakes). We got to make our own Takoyaki! I thought that was soo cool. It seems so easy, but when i tried to do it, i find it so challenging! Not easy to make the mixture into little balls.. In the end i asked the waiter to help me.. haha..

Just came back to the hotel and using the hotel lobby laptop again to blog. K and I went to so many places today. First, we took a 45 min train ride to Nara and explored the different temples and shrines at the Nara Park. We also got to see the famous deer of Nara. Took so many photos of the deers roaming freely around the park. There were also many kids and little babies chasing after the deers. Bria would have loved it so much!

After Nara, we headed back to Namba for more shopping and food. Bought some clothes from H&M for myself, some very kawaii childrens socks for Bria and Hikaru, and a big and very pretty Mickey Mouse jewellery box for myself to put my earrings, hairbands and stuff. Told K that this will be my birthday present.. = )

Then to end the day, we shared a delicious bowl of soy sauce ramen. Overall, today has been quite an enjoyable experience.. = )

I will officially turn 29 tomorrow, dont know whether to be happy or sad.. haha.. One year older, one year wiser?

Greetings from Osaka!! I just went on Facebook to announce to the whole world that i am officially on vacation .. = )

Im actually typing this on a laptopat the hotel lobby. There is no wireless internet here, so i cannot use my ipad. I actually typed in this blog entry on my ipad at the Haneda airport while waiting to board the plane. Had my first meal in Narita aiport - a terrible bowl of Tokyo ramen. Total waste of my gastronomic juices.

K is sitting at the hotel lobby now, waiting for me to blog. Got this survey from this company called "ＦｉｒｅｆｌｙＳｉｎｇａｐｏｒｅ", and they are gonna pay me $200 for blogging every day for the next 4 days for Phase 1, and then doing something for them on my Facebook for Phase 2. Its gonna be a challenge, since i will be traveling around and there is no wireless internet here in the hotel.. But i will try my best..

So far the trip hasnt been too enjoyable. After 12 hours of travelling on the plane, bus and subway, i just managed to check into the hotel. Poor K had to lug the big luggage up and down stairs cause we could not find any elevators at the train station.. sigh..
Yesterday was a crazy day.. My big boss came and I sat through a host of presentations from 10am to 5pm. By the time my turn came to present, everyone was half asleep already. But I think my interesting and energetic presentation perked them all up..=) The downside was, I only started the days work at 5pm. So I was rushing like mad to finish my work before I go on leave. By the time I reached home, it was already 7pm, and I missed my chance to feed Bria her dinner. So I brought her into my room and played with her, had my dinner, and then cleaned her up. I kept talking to her, telling her that daddy and mummy will be flying to japan, that she will be staying at grandma house for the next 5 days, and that she must be a good girl. It was only after I cleaned her that I started getting ready. And that too became a mad rush. I ended up forgetting to bring my hat, sunglasses and swimming costume. Sigh..

Anyway, Bria slept in the car on the way to the airport. She held my hand while she slept. And the more I look at this sleepyhead, the more I fall in love with her... When we arrived at changi airport, I whispered into her ear and told her that I am leaving. And she tightened her grip around my fingers. It's as if she know mummy is leaving. So sweet! It's been more than 10 hours since we left Singapore, and we still haven't reach our destination. And I miss my baby so much!

I love Japan. To me every time I come here, I will always see or experience something fascinating. Their food, their customer service, their creativity and sophisticated technology. I saw a guy tap his hand phone on the boarding gate machine. How cool is that! I also caught a glimpse of the yellow Pokemon aircraft that ANA bought.. So cute.

And the toilet! The little buttons to warm the toilet seat, to activate flushing sound etc. Now they even install an LCD screen in each toilet stall for advertisements! Plus they have baby chairs installed so babies can sit which their mummies do their thing in the toilet. How thoughtful! I wish Singapore toilets had these too.

But the whole lugging of luggage up and down stairs because there are no elevators?? Totally uncool.

K just googled to search for the best ramen near our hotel. Cant wait to go up to my room, freshen up and go shopping and eating!! Its been a full 30 minutes on this laptop now. So Tata for now!

I took one extra day leave today, cause i knew i would be dead beat after touching down at 1140pm last night at the airport.

There is so much to blog about on my 5 day Osaka trip. I did actually blog a bit while I was there, just didn't post it yet. Will do so over the next few days!

Anyway, I took Bria to Tampines for lunch with my parents to kinda celebrate my mom's birthday. We had Jack's Place, and went grocery shopping after that. Most of the groceries were for Bria. = )

Then I left C and Bria at Eunos MRT where K picked them up, before I headed to M1 at Change Alley to settle my handphone bill. Stupid M1 cancelled the outgoing calls and SMSes for K and my lines because we didn't pay our bills in full.. Sigh. K made a mistake during his 3 week reservice, and called me everyday using this *138 service by M1. We ended up getting a $1600 handphone bill. Sigh..

After the bill payment, i went for my long overdue pedicure. I had planned to do my toenails before i leave for Osaka. Sort of like my birthday treat. But my pedicurist went back to Malaysia. I went for the full pedicure with dead skin removal and scrub. My first time doing a full pedicure, and it was a wonderful experience! But i think my pedicurist was horrified at the massive amount of tiny dead skin bits raining down from my feet onto her towel.. haha.

Nonetheless, she did a great job. I love my toenails now!! They are so pretty i have this sudden urge to buy a new pair of open toe heels so i can show them off!

K and I went for ou first F1 race last Sunday. It was quite an exciting experience. We had Padang grand stand tickets, so we had a good view of the race track stretching for about 300 meters.

At first, K and I didn't want to buy the ear plugs. We thought it wasn't gonna be that bad. When i sat down, the guy next to me looked at me and asked: "Aren't you gonna wear earplugs?" And when i said no, he smiled and told me it's gonna be REALLY REALLY loud. Then the race started. After the first few cars zoomed past us, K and I looked at each other, and we decided to go buy our ears some plugs. It was SUPER DUPER loud loh!

So we left our seats, purchased $2 ear plugs, and then went back to enjoy the rest of the 61 laps. I had thought it will be very boring, like waiting for the cars to zoom past, and then wait again. But it wasn't like that at all. The wait was only for a few seconds before another car comes zooming past. Plus, i guess the fact that i was supporting Lewis Hamilton (because he is sponsored by Mobil 1) made it more exciting for me. My heart sank when he got banged and went out of the race! Sigh..

Tried to take some photos with my handphone camera. I was amazed that i managed to capture some of the race cars. They were so fast! It helped also that there were a few accidents during the race, so that the safety car had to come out, and the race had to slow down. It's quite funny how all the cameras suddenly came out when the safety car drove past us. If not for the safety car, i think it would be quite impossible for me to take the photo below!

After the race ended with Ferrari's Fernando as the champion, K and I moved out to the main stage to wait for Mariah Carey. I was shocked when she finally came on stage after being 30 minutes late, diva-style. She is SOOO fat !! K thought Oprah was in the house. = )

Not only that, she was such a lousy performer. If that had been her concert, i will definitely ask for a full refund. She sang half heartedly, went off pitch couple of times, and kept complaining that the weather is hot lah, her shoes are killing her lah. She even asked the audience if she could sit down on a sofa and drink some water during her first song! And after singing 2 songs, she left to take a rest and got some calefare dancers to perform on stage. K and I left before she could finish. Very disappointing. Don't know what the hell happened to her..

Overall, it was a wonderful night for K and I, with the exception of Mariah. I wouldn't mind doing this again. Maybe not every year lah.. once every 2 years would be nice.. K don't share the same feeling unfortunately. He said he would prefer to watch it at home, or at a nearby restaurant where there's air con, and he can still hear the sweet engine sound.. So ironic, i thought him being the male would enjoy this more than me! = )

EK and S is finally married! Actually, they registered their marriage one year ago, while K and I were in New Zealand, but they finally held their wedding banquet 2 weekends ago.

I am SOOO happy for the two of them.. We've been hanging out for the last 6 years now, and have gone through a lot of stuff together.. S share the same english name as me, they are both our regular mahjong khakis, house party khakis, and not forgetting traveling companions. K and I have been to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Macau, Perth and New Zealand with the two of them. In fact, K and I are the ones who persuaded them both to quit their jobs to go New Zealand and do what we did! Their relationship definitely grew a lot during this period, and I am proud to be part of their lives.. = )

The wedding was a unique outdoor event at The Legends. I love the whole decor. So nice! Food was so so though. The bride and groom sang a duet for their second march in. How apt given that they are both karaoke lovers!

Our 123rd month-niversary fell on Mid Autumn festival. K and I celebrated over moon cakes and chinese tea at his Grandma's place with his aunties and cousins, and Bria of course.

Few days after that, during the weekend, we brought Bria to Marina Barrage together with my grandma, my sis and my uncle's family. It had rained heavily that day, but the rain stopped just an hour before we were scheduled to leave. The whole family had loads of fun although there was no wind and our kites couldn't fly.

My grandma had a chance to get off her wheelchair and stand up to lean against the railing and enjoy the scenery of the sea. We also let her wear a pair of sunglasses to avoid the sun glare. She look so hip! = )

The kids also went wild splashing around in the fountain area, and I joined in the fun with Bria too. I think this whole fountain area is a wonderful idea. It's good clean fun for the family! And not as lame as the fountain in front of Bugis Junction. Part of me wished Bria was much older so she can too splash and run around with her cousins. Then again, kids grow so fast that the next thing i know, i will be wishing she is still a baby!

It's been 15 days since i last blogged.. A lot has happened.. Bria is growing taller and taller everyday now. She has 2 little teeth at the bottom, and has already learnt how to stand up by holding on to her cot and other furniture around the house. She also knows how to wave bye bye now when prompted. Plus, she is babbling a lot more these days... My baby is soooo cute!

Two Sundays ago, I brought Bria for breakfast at King Albert Park's MacDonald's. Met up with Carol and Shanice, both my colleagues' wives, and their babies. It was the first time i met Shanice's baby girl Lea. Lea and Bria are 1 week apart, so it was kinda inevitable that we started comparing when we met. In fact, I had to keep telling myself to restrain from comparing, and try not to be too affected if i don't like the results of the comparison. In addition, I was quite freaked out at the whole idea of going out with baby alone with no C and K. Was so worried that Bria will kick up a fuss and then i cannot handle her in public. Luckily for me, Bria was such a good girl.. She sat in the baby chair the whole time while I ate through my Big Breakfast.

When i saw Lea, I was also quite relieved. Although Lea felt heavier than Bria when i carried her, they looked about the same size. So at least my baby isn't too small! Plus, Bria has much more hair, and looks much happier. One thing Bria didn't have though was Lea's double eyelids. = (

Despite that, i still think my baby is prettier. Even though there were 2 baby girls there, Carol's 2 year old son keep wanting to hold Bria's hand! So cute.

Bria is so clever. When Shanice wanted to feed her some baby rice crackers, she didn't open her mouth, just kept staring at her. But when i wanted to feed her, she opened her mouth immediately. Shanice said Bria is smart enough to understand not to take food from strangers.. haha..

Although it was quite messy, it was quite a fun experience, 3 mums and our babies... don't mind doing it again, perhaps this time with our husbands!